Wednesday was a historic day at UNC’s Kenan Stadium, as it hosted Chelsea-Wrexham for the first-ever professional soccer match in its 95-year history.
Normally covered in Carolina Blue for Tar Heel Football games, Kenan was decked out in English soccer gear. There were team shops for both squads on the main concourse, Chelsea and Wrexham banners donning the lower bowl, plus the 50,000+ fans in red, white and blue – several from out-of-state – packing the stands to watch an English power go up against a mighty, up-and-coming squad.
The match did not disappoint. Wrexham kept things close early, going into halftime down just 2-0 and even earning a couple of solid scoring chances in the box, but ultimately ended up losing 5-0.
It almost felt like a home-field advantage for Chelsea – nearly everywhere fans looked, they saw royal blue. Despite the thousands of “Let’s Go Wrexham” chants, Chelsea fans roared after each of their five goals.
UNC should evaluate the impact of Chelsea-Wrexham and the benefits of hosting such a historic soccer match. Wednesday night was certainly a success and hopefully, it paves the way for other opportunities.
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